Nearby sights

Lime Park

During the high season, you can watch how lime and tar are burned, participate in seminars, workshops and guided tours, walk on the experience trail and have a picnic. During off-seasons when the large kiln is not working, eco-friendly construction trainings are organized and seminars are held on how to use lime and lime products for renovation and repairs.

The trail is fitted with information stands and will allow to pass it without a guide – all the information about lime production you may need is available in five different languages (Estonia, Russian, Finnish, English, German). Also you’re welcome to watch a short movie, which depicts the lime production process in general and possible applications of lime. A small Moravian chapel, built in 1879, now lives a new life as the centre of the Lime Park.

Check for more information (In Estonian): Lime Park

Saarte Geopark

Saarte Geopark aims at introducing and preserving the local geology, heritage culture and nature. Geopark strives to use the area’s geological scene in order to promote tourism, environmental awareness and local development. The Saarte Geopark centre is located at the Kaali Tourist Centre and provides information on all the sights in the Saarte Geopark area. The Saarte Geopark routes that take you on a walk through the Silurian period paint a vivid picture of the geological, cultural and natural heritage of the area. Make sure you have enough time, because you are sure to be captivated by the versatile nature and friendly people you will encounter at Saarte Geopark.

Conveniently close to Loona manor but still a proper bike ride away are the following cliffs:

• Undva cliff or Tõrvasoo cliff – The cliff of only couple of metres high is uneven and ragged of the waves and storms of the open sea. Although sea stays ice-free for long term near Undva, the leave of ice changes the coastline each spring and decreases the size of the cliff. The length of the cliff is about 500 metres. Here the rocks of the series of strata of Ninas and Mustjala of Jaani bed are exposed. The fossils remained of the animal and vegetal material of Silurian era (450-410 million years ago) – moss animals, brachiopods, sea lilies. The upper part of the cliff has the 45 cm high and 1.50 metres wide ridge, created of lime skeletons of organisms attached to each other (corals, corallines, sponges etc). The Gulf of Undva under the cliff of Undva is one of the largest hibernation places of Steller’s Eider.
• Kuriku cliff – The length of the steep is 1.3 km, height 3.5 m. The rocks of Ninase series of strata of Jaani bed are exposed. In the middle part of the cliff the fossil formations evolved in the low Paleo-Baltic Sea in the equatorial climate zone more than 400 million years ago which have been mainly created by the corallines, moss animals and corals. Suuriku cliff, the second largest cliff of Saaremaa, is located next to Kuriku cliff.
• Suuriku cliff – It is on the second place as to the height and length of Saaremaa cliffs. The length of the steep is 1.6 km, the height is up to 20 m. Here the rocks of Mustjala and Ninase series of strata of Jaani bed are exposed. The lower 8 metres of the cliff consist of Silurian rocks, the upper part of the loose coating deposits. In the middle third of the cliff the replacement of the horizontal layers with the ridges (bioherms) of irregular shape are observable which have been mainly built of moss animals. It is interesting that Tagalahe limestone bluff continues as the second tread under the water. The first escarpment has especially little water on it by Suuriku, therefore several ships have run upon the rocks here. Here also one of the shipwrecks with the highest number of victims in the Estonian marine history took place. In November storm of 1951 the motor sailer “Lydia Koidula” arrived from Loksa with the load of bricks. The storm started and the ship was ordered to go to Tagalahe. The ship appeared to be on the underwater escarpment of Suuriku cliff. The front part of the ship slipped on the escarpment, the back part remained hanging above the abyss. The wave raised the back part so long up and down that it broke down. The men who were on the front part were saved, the persons on the back part died with the captain. The polished red brick pieces can be found in-between the coastal stones even today.
• Abula cliff – A small cliff is about 2 m high ja 400 m long. At the Abula cliff the topmost layers of the Vilsandi Beds (lagoonal dolomitic marlstones) and the basal part of the Maasi Beds are exposed. The Maasi Beds belong to the middle part of the Jaagarahu Formation. The stromatoporoids studied here were collected from the pelletal limestone layers of the Maasi Beds. The stromatoporoid-rich layers are of normal marine origin. They were deposited in shoaling waters of a very shallow sea. Likely wave activity is indicated by the occurrence of rare overturned stromatoporoids, all of which have low domical shapes.
• Merise cliff – The length of the steep is 250 mand maximum height 2,5 m.
• Elda cliff – The length of the cliff is 400 metres, height 1.8 metres. Here the layers of Rootsiküla bed – dolostones including corals, small stromatolites and oncolites- are exposed. The lower 70-cm thick dolostone layer includes brownish, clayish intermediate layer which consists of shields having covered the front part of the body and head of jawless fish and have relatively well preserved. Elda cliff is different from Soeginina as to its surrounding – no trees or bushes exist, the upper part of the cliff is bare. But just as in Soeginina, the sea breaks major limestone pieces off the cliff and beautiful limestone floor is exposed on the sea coast. Salava Island where the boats came for the refugees during war, can be seen from the cliff. Nootamaa remains behind Salava (the westernmost part in Estonia), Loonalaid can be seen on the right, the view is cut off in the north by Vilsandi with its 200-year old fire tower. Several landing places were also under Elda, as the sea there is quite deep.
• Soeginina cliff – The length of the cliff is about 500 metres, maximum height is 3.6 metres. Here the dolomites and dolomitized limestones of Soeginina and Vesiku layers of Rootsiküla bed are exposed. The remaining fossils of animal and vegetable material of the Silurian period (450 – 410 million years ago) can be seen on the bank – corals, moss animals, crustaceans, snails and other animals can be seen on the cliff. Such ancient fossils can be seen in only very few places in the world, as the other eras have been stratified on. Birches and other broadleaved types of trees grow on the cliff which have pushed their roots to the cracks of the cliff. The Nordic liana, the type under protection – ivy – crawls among the tree trunks to the height of 17-18 metres. One of the few natural lindens in Estonia is located at the same place. Innarahu can be seen from Soeginina cliff where gray seals are lying and bring forth young ones during ice-poor winters.
• Katri cliff – Katri cliff is situated in Lümanda parish, 4-4,5 km south from Karala village. Length 500 m, hight up to 1 m. During the Soviet times there were a coast guard tower and observing station on the cliff, nowadays one can just see some remindings of the objects in the nature.

Windmills

A post windmill is one of the symbols of Saaremaa and the most widely spread windmill type in Saaremaa. It is a windmill type from central Europe where the rectangular body of the mill is supported by the central pillar and it is possible to turn the whole mill according to the wind direction.

Near Loona Manor, a couple of post windmills have been preserved which we recommend you visit:

• Kivestu tuulik – The post windmill in Kõruse Village is one of the oldest windmills in Saaremaa, built in 1781. It was restored in 2015.
• Ilaste tuulik – The post windmill in Kuusnõmme Village is one of the longest working post mills in Saaremaa. Miller Aleksander Helm still milled here at the end of the 1970s. It was restored in 2014.
• Anetsi tuulik – The post windmill in Leedri Village is from year 1898 and it was restored twice – in 1989 and 2013.